Need some help on how to take specific pictures

[alzarius]

Hello

I was recently gifted a Nikon D750 from my brother in law for some photography I wanted to take.

I assumed it would be macro photography since it's almost what I wanted. The thing is, I also wanted to take even more zoomed in pictures.

Think, insect legs. (What I am actually looking for are trichome pictures, which are very small)

I bought the Nikon Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 VR lens. I love it, but it also doesn't have the magnification that I was hoping for.

How do I accomplish taking these types of very small objects, but with really good sharpness. (I may be using that word wrong)

I'm a complete noob, and have goggled multiple times, but I couldn't find what I wanted and it was time to look at forums.

Thanks

 

[Overread]

With the Nikon 105mm Macro you can achieve a magnification ratio of 1:1 when focused at its closest focusing distance. This means that the size of the image on the sensor is exactly the same as the object in real life.

Now what you're after is much greater, if you want an insect leg or similar size object to be filling a lot of the frame then you might be looking at 5:1 magnifications or greater.

These high magnifications have a few lenses on the market that can achieve them, or you have to dip into using microscope elements and a few specialist items to achieve such a high magnification.



Now don't consider the lens you've got bad, its ideal to start learning with as when you get into high magnification photography things get harder. Your working distance (distance from the subject to the front of the lens) will be very short, which makes lighting trickier. In addition your body motions will get amplified so holding becomes harder and you might well need to use a tripod. Even tripod work is trickier as ideally you want a geared tripod head (allows you to move each axis in very small increments) and a focusing rail (lets you move the camera back and forth which helps with focusing).

You can also use attachments such as the Raynox DCR 150 and 250. They are coated optics that clip onto the front of your lens; kind of like a filter, and increase the magnification. Of course down goes your working distance when you do this.

Loawa Home - LAOWA Camera Lenses
Are also worth looking into. They produce a range of high magnification lenses with very good quality. Their main drawback is they are fully manual - not even auto aperture systems in them. However it can be a simple and affordable way into this kind of photography.


High Magnification photography is tricky and there's an art to it, but it certainly can be done. If you are looking for much more specific resources that will start to go into what kinds of lenses you can use or microscope setups and the like; you might just try searching for macro photography groups (high/extreme often being good search terms to throw in). There's a few good ones around that can go a long way into details of what you can use at a whole range of budgets.

 

[RacePhoto]

Extension tubes or a bellows. That easy, and they are low cost, manual shooting, if the lens has manual settings. Otherwise you'll need a electronically connect extension tube. (sorry I don't know that lens and I have some older manual lenses that I use for Macro)

You're going to want to try some stacking software or maybe you have something that does that? Free: Picolay Stacking Software

The issue at very close is going to be lack of depth of field. That's why stacking. If you go for smaller aperture, you start to run into issues with diffusion. But if you want to go at this and enjoy, step by step? Start with the lens you have, which is very good. Get some extension tubes, manually set the f/stop to smaller and smaller, until you reach the limit.

Then try the focus stacking, or image stacking, to get more depth.

Good luck, have fun, it's going to take some time. But the journey is a good part of the fun.

I dabble, have moments when I want to see something, super close up, and move on. Lincoln's Nose on a shiny new US cent. Single image, not stacked.

 

[480sparky]

There's lots of ways to get into macro. A dedicated macro lens is a good start, but few go past 1:1 magnification.

You can add close-up lenses, extension tubes, bellows, reverse a lens... All have their pros and cons.... and budgets. The higher the magnification, generally the more it's going to cost. And the relationship is logarithmic, not linear.

And you're not going to just start clicking away. Once you graduate from a macro lens, you're into manual everything.... focus, shutter speed & aperture etc. You'll find studio work ideal so you can control the lighting, but that adds expense as well.

 

[greybeard]

 

[Thiophilos]

@alzarius, are you still around?